1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting bottles. The invention relates particularly to an apparatus for transporting plastic bottles which have a support collar near the opening, wherein the bottles are suspended by the support collars on a guide track. The apparatus further includes compressed air nozzle ducts which are arranged on both sides of the bottles underneath the support collar thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparatus of the above-described type are used particularly for the rapid transportation of lightweight plastic bottles between an area where the bottles are stored and subsequent treatment machines. Such conveying apparatus include a guide track and a compressed air nozzle duct which is arranged immediately adjacent the guide track and is directed toward the region of the opening of the bottles to be transported. The compressed air is conducted directly against the region of the opening and shoulder of the bottles to be transported and, thus, the area of attack on the bottles is relatively small, so that a strong air flow is required for moving the individual bottles. On the other hand, with the arrangement of the air nozzles immediately in the area of the bottle openings, particularly in plants of the beverage industry, the danger of an infection of the bottle contents placed in the bottles subsequently cannot be excluded. This may result in substantial problems, particularly in the case of sensitive beverages which are subsequently filled into the bottles in a bottling machine.
It has also been suggested to arrange the guide track above and spaced from a compressed air nozzle duct each arranged on both sides of the travel path of the bottles, wherein the nozzle ducts have a distance from each other which is substantially greater than the diameter of the bottles to be transported, and wherein guide rails are arranged underneath the nozzle ducts for limiting the lateral path of movement of the bottles.
The latter prior art proposal discussed above results in substantial improvements of the first prior art apparatus discussed above. In particular, it is now possible to process different bottles of any size with the same apparatus without a direct flow of air onto the region of the opening of the bottles and the attendant danger of infection during the subsequent filling of the bottles.
The latter apparatus has the disadvantage that the nozzles are located relatively far away from the actual support surfaces or sliding planes of the support collars of the bottles and, thus, the low area of attack of the air flow on the bottle frequently results in a tilting of the bottles during transport. As a consequence, tilted bottles must be freed many times in order to facilitate the further transport of all subsequent bottles. Another disadvantage of this apparatus is the fact that particularly single bottles which are kept at a distance from the preceding or subsequent row in the transport path are subject to tilting particularly quickly and, therefore, automatically result in the impairment of the subsequent bottles.
It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for transporting bottles of the above-described type in which the disadvantages mentioned above are avoided. Particularly, a tilting of the bottles is to be eliminated without impairing desired biological requirements.